I spent this morning at the Bass Ponds in Bloomington, Hennepin County. There's been a ton of shorebird habitat there for the last few weeks, and it finally paid off with large numbers and diversity of birds this morning. Between 7:30 and 10:00 I saw 16 species of shorebirds, including the following (along with larger numbers of Least & Semipalmated Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, and Lesser Yellowlegs):
1 Black-bellied Plover 1 Marbled Godwit 1 Ruddy Turnstone 3 Sanderling 35 Dunlin 1 Baird's Sandpiper 2 White-rumped Sandpiper 5 Pectoral Sandpiper 9 Short-billed Dowitcher 1 Wilson's Phalarope All of these birds were out on Long Meadow Lake, viewed from the Hogback Ridge Trail. The mudflats stretch all the way across the lake, so a scope is essential. Many birds were coming and going, and few of them stayed long. When I passed by later in the day, I could only find a few peeps. Also around at the Bass Ponds were Bay-breasted Warbler, Gray-cheeked Thrush, late Ruby-crowned Kinglet & Lincoln's Sparrow, and two Black Terns. Nesting activity is picking up as well - I saw several species with fledglings and several others in the process of building nests. Good birding, Matt Dufort Minneapolis ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
